Applicant claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of Austrian Patent Application No. A 1771/2001 filed Nov. 9. 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a harvester, especially a combine-harvester, with a pickup reel held rotatably between supporting arms and with a drive for the pickup reel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known drives for pickup reels (EP 11 33 912 A, DE 195 08 887 C) comprise belt or chain drives which are arranged on the side of the pickup reel. The drive of the pickup reel occurs either directly from the side of the harvester via a mechanical drive connection or via a hydraulic engine which is hydraulically driven by the harvester. The disadvantageous aspect is that the drive means required for the drive of the pickup reel are arranged outside of the pickup reel, which enlarges the overall size of the harvester and leads to blockages or malfunctions of the drive means in the case of different cereals. This impairs the driving speed of the harvester on the one hand and the availability is decreased as a result of the increased susceptibility to malfunctions.
The invention is therefore based on the object of providing a harvester of the kind mentioned above in which blockages or malfunctions by harvested material is prevented in the zone of the reel drive and which makes do without drive means which extends beyond the width of the pickup reel.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in such a way that the drive is arranged within the pickup reel. If the drive is disposed within the pickup reel, the width of the harvester is substantially determined by the distance of the supporting arms and a drive of the pickup reel is obtained in a simple and elegant manner which operates without impairment and free of malfunctions.
Especially advantageous constructional conditions are obtained when the drive comprises an internally toothed gear rim which is connected with the pickup reel in a torsionally rigid way and is arranged coaxially to the rotational shaft of the pickup reel, a motor for the drive of the pickup reel and a housing, which motor is torsionally rigidly supported on at least one supporting arm by means of a bearing axle, with said motor engaging with a driving toothed wheel into the internal toothing or being arranged with the same into a planetary drive. The drive unit made of gear rim and motor is arranged thereby within the pickup reel in the housing. The housing can enclose the drive unit either completely or only partly, but in any case it should keep the harvested material away from the drive unit and thus ensure smooth operation of the pickup reel. The motor rests in that torsionally rigid way on the bearing axle, which bearing axle is fastened on its part in that torsionally rigid manner on the supporting arm and carries the bearing(s) for the reel bearing. As a result of these measures, a simple drive unit of compact size is created which fulfils all requirements placed on a pickup reel.
In order to enable the secure transmission of the driving forces from the motor to the pickup reel, the housing and the internal toothing form a modular unit to which a supporting tube is fastened which is coaxial to the rotating shaft of the pickup reel. The driving forces are conducted at first from the motor via the internal toothing to the housing and thereafter to the supporting tube, as a result of which the pickup reel is put in motion. The pickup reel is suspended or fastened in the known manner on the supporting tube by means of spokes. A favorable and stable support of the pickup reel on the supporting arm associated with the bearing axle is obtained when the pickup reel and/or the supporting tube are held rotatably on the bearing axle. The rotatable bearing of the pickup reel with respect to the bearing axle could also occur via a planetary drive, whereby the task of the bearings is then performed by the planet wheels. As required, either a hydraulic or electric motor is provided as a drive. This is particularly advantageous because the supply lines for said motors can be laid especially easily and without enlarging the overall width of the harvester.